Road, street course qualificiation changes announced

QUALIFICATION PROCESS ENHANCED FOR ROAD AND STREET COURSES
Three-stage elimination process will determine starting order
INDIANAPOLIS, Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - The IndyCar Series
will enhance its popular Firestone Fast Six qualifying format...

INDIANAPOLIS, Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - The IndyCar Series
will enhance its popular Firestone Fast Six qualifying format for road
and street courses beginning with the series' visit to St.
Petersburg, Fla. April 4-6. Single-car qualifying, which previously
preceded the Firestone Fast Six shootout, will be eliminated on road and
street courses in favor of group sessions that will progressively narrow
the field to the fastest six, who will then enter a 10-minute shootout
for the pole.

Preparations for qualifying at road and street courses will
begin with two Friday practice sessions in which all cars will
participate together for a total of 2 ½ hours. On Saturday morning, the
cars will be randomly divided into two groups for a final practice
session. Each group will get 30 minutes of practice time.

Qualifying begins Saturday afternoon with the two groups
competing for 20 minutes each. The fastest six cars from each group will
advance to another round of qualifying while positions 13 down will be
established for the race by the fastest laps turned by the remaining
cars.

The 12 advancing cars will then enter a 15-minute group
qualifying session with all previous times erased. Following that
session, the fastest six cars will advance to the Firestone Fast Six
shootout while the remaining six cars will fill positions seven through
12 on the starting grid based on their fastest laps from that session.

Once again, all times will be erased and the six finalists
will battle for 10 minutes to win the PEAK Motor Oil Pole.

"Qualifying for our road and street courses has been
full of drama ever since we introduced the Firestone Fast Six concept in
2005," said Brian Barnhart, president of the operations division of
the Indy Racing League, the sanctioning body of the IndyCar Series.
"Expanding the group format into several stages will add additional
levels of intrigue and strategy that will keep fans entertained
throughout."

The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg also will mark the
first time two off-season enhancements are used on a road/street course.
IndyCar Series cars are now equipped with a paddle shift system and an
optional variable-assist steering rack. Both improve driver safety. The
paddle shift system allows drivers to keep both hands on the wheel while
shifting, and the steering rack makes it easier to turn the wheel the
farther it is turned.

"The new qualifying format should be a hit with the
fans," said Al Speyer, executive director of Firestone Racing.
"It adds increasing levels of excitement and unpredictability with
each segment. It leads to the climactic Firestone Fast Six that has
produced so much excitement since its inception at St. Pete three seasons
ago, in part because the participants receive an extra set of new
Firestone Firehawks for that session alone. We're eager to see the
new format unveiled this weekend."